film as a primary source why we fight – prelude to war
Introduction
In Prelude to War, the first film in Frank Capra's Why We Fight series, World War II was depicted as a battle between the “slave world” and the “free world.”
America's enemies - Germany, Italy, and Japan - were portrayed as evil, militaristic, dictatorial regimes that sought to enslave the world.
In contrast, America was portrayed as a just, peaceful, egalitarian society that sought to liberate the world.
film as a primary source why we fight – prelude to war
Assignment
Your task is to evaluate Capra's characterization of the United States during World War II. Do so, by discussing the following:
1) The ways in which the American government presented the war.
2) The degree to which the government lived up to its rhetoric of freedom.
3) The ways in which wartime realities often conflicted with the government's idealistic presentation of the war.
film as a primary source why we fight – prelude to war
Prelude to War
World War II was a conflict in which . . .
Describe the slave world . . .
Describe the free world . . .
film as a primary source why we fight – prelude to war
film as a primary source why we fight – prelude to war
How accurate is this story ???
Slave world?
- Tanaka Memorial (1927)
- Unification of Germany, Italy, and Japan
- Desire of Japanese to invade the U.S. and march down Pennsylvania Avenue
film as a primary source why we fight – prelude to war
How accurate is this story ???
Free world? . . . Alternative Narratives
African Americans . . .
Japanese Americans . . .
film as a primary source why we fight – prelude to war
African Americans . . .
Discrimination
Segregation
Poll-tax
March on Washington
CORE and NAACP
film as a primary source why we fight – prelude to war
Less than six months after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, a little over half—144,583 out of 282,245—prospective war-related job openings were reserved for whites.
In Texas, African Americans were barred from over 9,000 out of the 17,435 openings (52 percent) for defense jobs.
In, Michigan the figure was 22,042 out of 26,904 (82 percent).
In Ohio, 29,242 out of 34,861 (84 percent).
In Indiana, 9,331 out of 9,979 (94 percent).
Andrew Kersten, Race, Jobs, and the War: The FEPC in the Midwest, 1941-46 (Univ. of Illinois Press, 2000), 37.
film as a primary source why we fight – prelude to war
Virginia Durr Jennings Perry Palmer Weber Irving Brant
Southern Conference for Human Welfare The National Committee to Abolish the Poll Tax A. Philip Randolph | Executive Order 8802 (June 41) | FEPC
Japanese Americans . . .
Discrimination
Internment
Loss of Property
Loss of Businesses
film as a primary source why we fight – prelude to war
Cat "Puffy" Signing Autographs
Original caption: Puffy Bares Paw in Bond Drive. New York. Puffy, famed mystic cat, perched at the bond booth in the Cafe Zanzibar tonight where he autographed his picture for bond purchasers as the Night Club 7th War Loan Drive got underway. Here, the king of all cats looks up at Ruth Rhind as she receives the bond she just purchased from Rose Horowitz. Puffy "sold" over $50,000 in war bonds in his first two hours as bond salesman.
Photographed: May 14, 1945 Location Information: New York, New York, USA
Japanese Americans . . .
19 February 1942, President Roosevelt issued Executive Order 9066
Authority for the United States Army to exile nearly 120,000 persons of Japanese birth or ancestry from their homes in California, Oregon, Washington, and other West Coast areas and coop them up in what the government called assembly centers and relocation centers, but which the president himself called "concentration camps."
film as a primary source why we fight – prelude to war
Following evacuation orders, this store, at 13th and Franklin Streets, was closed. The owner, a University of California graduate of Japanese descent, placed the I AM AN AMERICAN sign on the store front on December 8, the day after Pearl Harbor. Evacuees of Japanese ancestry will be housed in War Relocation Authority centers for the duration. -- Photographer: Lange, Dorothea -- Oakland, California. 3/13/42 Date: December 17, 1944 Location: San Francisco, California This permit was issued to Matsuyo Murakami during World War II. It authorizes her travel within the West Coast region, restricted to Japanese Americans without written approval from the government.
Man pointing to anti-Japanese sign Date: March 2, 1944 Location: Kent, Washington G.S. Hantf, a barber from Kent, Washington, points to his sign. Photo taken during resettlement period. (Info from Documentary Photo Aids caption) Japanese Americans . . . The presidential commission investigating the incarceration in the 1980s judged that:
"The promulgation of Executive Order 9066 was not justified by military necessity, and the decisions which followed from it--detention, ending detention and ending exclusion--were not driven by analysis of military conditions. The broad historical causes which shaped these decisions were race prejudice, war hysteria, and a failure of political leadership. Widespread ignorance of Japanese Americans contributed to a policy conceived in haste and executed in an atmosphere of fear and anger at Japan. A grave injustice was done to American citizens and resident aliens of Japanese ancestry who, without individual review or other probative evidence against them, were excluded, removed, and detained by the United States during World War II."
film as a primary source why we fight – prelude to war